Sunday, February 20, 2011

GOP's first priority

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the GOP's "fiscal concern" only extends to programs favored by Democrats. No where is that more clear than the House GOP majority passing multiple amendments to defund PBS, Planned Parenthood and longtime Koch Brothers nemesis EPA. But when a Democrat proposed cutting the millions the Pentagon spends annually to place a sticker on a NASCAR, she was not only voted down, but received threatening mail from Tea Party conservatives. Ironically, one of the supporters of the spending, alleged Democrat Patrick McHenry of North Carolina said, “This amendment is about politics in certain districts for certain groups of people.” He fails to mention his district is in the very heart of NASCAR terrority. Neither are tax breaks for oil corporations on the GOP's slash list.

Only one GOP cut has been so far taken off the table and its proposal shows just how far the GOP ideology has descended into pure "anything -- no matter how stupid -- to piss off liberals" territory. Representative Steve Womack of Arkansas retracted his proposal to cut off financing for President Obama’s teleprompter.

But one thing I haven't seen mentioned in a long time is the GOP's first priority is winning the White House in 2012. Their best chance for that to happen to is make certain the economy doesn't improve and ensure the working class voter suffers, which they have successfully blamed on President Obama thanks to a complicit media. Nothing they've done since taking the House majority indicates they've strayed at all from that plan.

Forgotten too is the fact that a loose brick does not mean the Great Wall of China is falling down, or worse, isn't actually there. These fallacies aren't just cheap, they're also a bit irregular.

Note please the parenthetical snark; the indelible mark of the pitch man with a slithery prima facie refutation for anything you might say.

No, I don't think anyone missed the cosmetic cut. I don't think many would view that as evidence that now, a much chastened GOP is about to reverse a lifetime of military bloat or the policy of bludgeoning the oppositions with their "weakness" or willingness to help "the enemy." Nor did they miss Bernie Madoff's charitable contributions. You can put chaste clothing on a whore, but you can't restore her claim to innocence.

They've been trying to steal the widow's mites of NPR and the NEA and Planned Parenthood for decades and it has nothing to do with what we can or can't afford. They're still trying to blame our woes on the Unions who represent some 7% of American workers. They tried to kill these things during our most prosperous years and it has only to do with promoting an oligarchy of a very few on the backs of very many: a kind of patriotism that doesn't include any concern for the country.